A 36-year-old man is missing after going kayaking in West Vancouver, just hours before a powerful windstorm in B.C.'s south coast.
West Vancouver Police Department posted to X that the 36-year-old man was reported missing shortly after 4 p.m. on Tuesday (Nov. 19) after failing to return by his anticipated time of 2:30 p.m.
The man left from Batchelor Bay on his kayak around 12:40 p.m. on Nov. 19 "on what was supposed to be a short paddle," according to Wednesday's news release. He was last seen rounding Whyte Islet, heading north toward Whytecliff Park.
He is described at five-foot-10, 170 pounds, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. He was last seen in a white collapsible kayak, wearing a black rain jacket, black track pants and black flip-flops.
Police did not name the missing man.
West Vancouver police is asking the public to keep an eye out for the man, and to contact the detachment at 604-925-7300.
In a weather summary Wednesday, Environment Canada said wind gusts peaked at 85 km/h at Point Atkinson in West Vancouver – about eight kilometres from where the man was last seen at Whyte Islet.
On Tuesday, a "bomb cyclone" ripped through B.C.'s coast. A bomb cyclone is a non-tropical storm system caused by a rapid drop in atmospheric pressure at its centre. Ahead of the storm, Environment Canada warned it could bring wind gusts of up to 120 km/h in the central and north coasts, and gusts of 100 km/h along the south coast and on Vancouver Island.
